


Put to Bed

by Deathstar510



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Parenthood, Polyamory, The start of it anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7735042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deathstar510/pseuds/Deathstar510
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira has been waiting for the push to go back to her own quarters after Kirayoshi's birth for months now.  But until it comes, she has every intention of helping as much as the O'Briens will let her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put to Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for starstarship on tumblr, who requested Kira/Keiko for round 2 of the trek-rarepair-swap!

Kira had expected her welcome in the O'Briens' quarters to wear out once the baby was born.  That was as far as any of them had discussed, after all, her living with them during the pregnancy. There'd been no word spoken on her staying past that and standing between them and their quality time with Kirayoshi.  Without being told to, she'd started packing her bags up when the due date drew near. Just in case. She needed to be prepared for a quick exit as soon as they asked to have their space back to themselves again.

For all of her preparations though, the birth came and went without either of them saying a word about her leaving.  Kira couldn't say she hadn't contemplated doing so on her own initiative.  Maybe it would be the most graceful solution for all of them, avoid the awkward subject altogether… But when faced with leaving her child – not hers genetically speaking, maybe, but Yoshi had spent five months in her own womb no matter his heritage – she found herself hesitating.  Having her own plans ripped out from under her felt unsettling, even if she was the one doing it, but Kira still found herself in no hurry to remind the couple that she had yet to be kicked out.

Their new routine settled into habit all on its own.  Two nights with the O'Briens keeping track of the baby's monitor, listening for any fussing or crying, then one night with Kira watching over instead.  Three people instead of two made for everyone getting more sleep in the long run.  Kira spent more time with Yoshi.  It worked out, better than being alone in single quarters again in any case.

Listening for the baby took it's toll on her sleep though. Tonight the monitor wasn't even hers but crying in the middle of the night still startled her out of sleep, her head lifting briefly from the pillow.  Yoshi's fits had an impressive volume, she had to give him that.  At least they knew the boy had healthy lungs.  

Another cry had her slowly sitting up, eyes bleary, back aching.  Her feet moved on their own to bring her out of bed, whether it was her turn to deal with the child or not.  A couple months of this had ingrained the habits deep into her it seemed.  She couldn't have gone back to bed if she wanted to at this point.

And oh did she want to.  Who knew that parenthood could be such a drug?  Even if she wasn't sure how well she actually fit the definition of parent, dragging herself up in the middle of the night had to count.

Yoshi only fussed louder as she made her way into his room.  She could just see his little fists flailing past the slats of the crib, face scrunched up into another ear splitting wail.  Leaning over him, she reached down, hands careful with the tiny body as she lifted him up to her chest.  Screaming faded into a warbling noise of upset, Kira's familiar hands calming him almost the instant that she pulled him from his crib.

If that didn't make her feel like a real mother, nothing would.  A smile came to her face all on its own as she bounced Yoshi in her arms, distracted enough that she didn't even hear the door open behind her.

That only lasted a moment though.  A lifetime of fighting in a rebellion didn't leave room for her to not take notice of footsteps, no matter how light and careful they may be.  Kira pulled Yoshi closer to her chest in an automatic, protective movement as she glanced back over her shoulder.

Keiko stood there, looking as ruffled as Kira did.  Her hair hung in a loose mess around her shoulders, eyes blinking rapidly to clear them of sleep with every step she made into the room.  “You're up already?”  Her voice wavered with exhaustion.  Three was better than two to let them all sleep, but children were no easy task no matter how many people worked together on them.  “Here I was thinking I was on top of it tonight.”  She chuckled, coming to a stop at Kira's side to watch her tend to the baby.

Kira returned the sleepy smile.  Still, it didn't quite reach her eyes, which darted away nervously.  As soon as Keiko had stepped into the room, that familiar feeling worked its way into her, the feeling that she was intruding into a family she didn't belong to.  They hadn't told her to leave yet, but perhaps that didn't give her the right to take charge of the child when it wasn't asked of her.

She swallowed.  “I couldn't get back to sleep once I heard him.”  Explanation out there, she carefully made a movement to lift Yoshi from her chest, silently offering the baby to Keiko.  It was her night after all, she'd gotten up already.  Not to mention… much as it ate at her to admit, she couldn't deny that Keiko was Yoshi's real mother.  Kira may have carried him, but he was Keiko and Miles' child.  Not hers.

No matter what she felt, she couldn't call herself his mother when the title was already claimed.

She'd prepared herself for the moment of handing off the baby so when the response was instead a simple wave of Keiko's hand, she lingered there, unsure of what to do when Keiko turned away towards the replicator.  Yoshi had started to squirm before Kira pulled him back to her chest.

“Miles told me before bed that he wouldn't eat much,” Keiko told her, fingers moving quickly at the replicator to produce Yoshi's formula, testing it on her arm carefully.  The replicator rarely spit out anything at the wrong temperature, but there was no room to take chances when an infant was involved.  “He's probably just hungry.”

When she returned, Kira tilted Yoshi up in her arms, leaving an opening for Keiko to bring the bottle to his mouth.  He latched on immediately and Keiko smiled while she watched him eat.  Kira glanced from him to her.  “Sure you don't want to hold him?” she asked carefully.

“It's fine like this.”  Keiko looked up at her, their eyes meeting.  Eyes locked for a moment, a brief moment.  Kira looked away first, smile tugging briefly at the corner of her mouth before she could hide it away.  “Besides,” Keiko continued, “I'm tired enough you might be better at actually holding him up.”

“I suppose that's one argument for sleeping in an armchair for the first months.”  Kira had possibly consumed too many human parenting guides over the past five months.  None of them had been too terribly helpful in the 'third alien parent' part of it, but they'd given her something to do.

“If anyone sits in an armchair for months it'll be Miles, and I already have a hard enough time getting him to sleep with Yoshi in the other room.  If we let him stay in the living room he'd never go to work in the morning again.”  

“Tell him he can't take care of the baby if he doesn't know how to take care of himself.”  Nervousness still buzzed somewhere in her stomach, a familiar sensation that she'd long since learned to act past, but it weakened as they spoke.  Talking came easy with Keiko, easier than it did with most people.  She'd have thought it had something to do with living together, but not even conversation with Miles clicked into place so well.

Yoshi's eyes fluttered slowly, the bottle wasn't even half done but he seemed to be reaching his limit.  Keiko waited for him to stop suckling before gently pulling the bottle free, giving Kira a nod to show that she was done.  Yoshi hadn't quite fallen off to sleep yet as Kira started lowering him back into his crib, but a few seconds of letting him rest and he nodded off again, making quiet noises as he fidgeted into a comfortable position on his back.

“Mission accomplished,” Keiko muttered from beside her.

“For now.  We'll see how long he actually stays asleep this time.”

“It won't be long enough, I can tell you that much.”  Her touch to Kira's shoulder was feather light, and brief enough that Kira could almost think it was her imagination that it had happened at all.  She turned as Keiko continued.  “Come on.  Let's see how much sleep he lets us get this round.”

Keiko's door was the first one they encountered and, for a moment, Kira didn't know what to do when she didn't enter it.  She paused outside her own room, looking back with a startled stare to see Keiko still following after her.  That was when Keiko stopped in her tracks. She stood there, looking almost as startled with herself as Kira was before a nervous smile spread across her face.  “I… I probably should have asked before just following you.”

“Asked?”

“If it was alright if I… stayed in your room tonight.”

Kira didn't know what she expected.  Not that, that much was for sure.  Her immediate reply came out more as a startled sputter before she managed actual words.  “You want to… Well.”  She cleared her throat abruptly, straightened herself up and tried not to look as confused and nervous as she felt.  “Won't Miles miss you?”

It wasn't a no.  It definitely wasn't a no.  Keiko seemed to catch that, judging by the smile on her face.  “He'll be alright for a night or two.”

Two.  The undignified sputtering would have made its reappearance here, if she'd actually tried to reply, but Kira wasn't even going to risk it at this point.  She lingered there a moment more, hand on the button to open the door.  She didn't even seem to realize when she pressed it until it slid open in front of her. Keiko held back in the opening until Kira looked back to her and nodded. She smiled, a sight that Kira could say she was definitely getting used to.

Kira hadn't spent the night with arms around her waist and a head on her shoulder in a long time.  After Keiko slid into bed behind her, warm body nuzzled up to her back, she suddenly couldn't be sure that she'd ever want to go without it again.


End file.
